Bicycle Racing News and Opinion
Wednesday, November 19, 2014

First of all, a big thank you to to Yves Guilleux for sending me 10-deep GC standings for each stage of the 1995 Giro d'Italia. This was a kind and generous thing Yves has done and I'm sure race archivists will appreciate his work for years to come.

This is not the first time Mr. Guilleux has been so generous with his time. I have already posted, among other data he has sent me, deeper results for the 1993 and 1994 Giri as well. Mille Grazie!

The organization's youngest team yet will rely on leadership of experienced riders; focus on teamwork, tactics, creativity and perseverance

Slipstream Sports is poised for an exciting year. In late August, Slipstream and Cannondale announced that the organizations would join forces in 2015, creating a new, powerhouse team built for the future. The new team will be known as Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling – and as revealed today – features an impressive, young roster comprised of 27 athletes from 14 different countries. Cannondale will be the title sponsor and technical bicycle sponsor for the team, and has taken an ownership stake in the management organization of Slipstream Sports LLC. Garmin will remain co-title sponsor and has been a key partner of Slipstream Sports since 2008.

Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling will continue its mission of developing future champions with talented young rider additions including Joe Dombrowski, Alberto Bettiol, Davide Formolo, Matej Mohoric, Kristoffer Skjerping, Davide Villella and Ruben Zepuntke. The team will be anchored by more experienced riders including Dan Martin, winner of the 2014 Giro di Lombardia and 7th Overall in the 2014 Vuelta; Ryder Hesjedal, 2012 Giro Champion and 2014 Vuelta stage winner; Ramunas Navardauskas, 2014 Tour de France Stage winner and Lithuanian Time Trial Champion and Andrew Talansky, 2014 Dauphine winner and the top American in the 2013 Tour de France (where he was 10th Overall).

“I’m very excited about our 2015 team. We began as a small group with the mission of developing young riders and we have stayed true to that mission year after year, even as we have grown. 2015 is our youngest group of athletes yet, and it’s also young in that it’s a new team, and we have joined forces with Cannondale,” said Jonathan Vaughters, CEO, Slipstream Sports and Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling. “That gives us huge opportunities. What you can expect to see is an extremely talented group of young riders who will benefit greatly from the leadership and guidance of more experienced guys like Langeveld, Martin, Hesjedal and Talansky. This is a team that will come into racing with a lot of enthusiasm and spirit, and will rely on teamwork, tactics, perseverance and creativity to give great performances.”

Director Charly Wegelius added,“anytime you have the benefit of youth and experience, you are poised for growth and opportunity. Every rider on this team is capable of greatness, and together as a team, we have huge potential. Our goal will be to harness that potential, relying on our more experienced guys, to create a very exciting year.”

The riders of Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling will meet for the first time in Wilton, Connecticut, and will then travel to the British Virgin Islands where they will set sail for four days around the Island of Tortola. This ambitious undertaking, centered on team building and leadership, will also include off-boat activities such as hiking and swimming.

“Like cycling, sailing is a team sport,” said Vaughters. “The idea with sailing and living on the boats is to take these guys totally out of their comfort zone and get to know each other and work together under difficult circumstances. For many if not most, this will be a totally foreign activity – so they will need to support each other just as they will all season during races.”

From the highlands of Ethiopia to the roads of the worlds pro tour cycling scene.

This is the path Tsgabu Gebremaryan Grmay has chosen, the first Ethiopian cyclist to have signed with World Tour cycling team Lampre-Merida.

The twenty three year old climber has signed a contract for the 2015 season with the formation blue-fuchsia-green, becoming the second African athlete in the history of the team (the first being Robert Hunter).

Tsbau Grmay. Photo Bettini

Born in Mekele, Ethiopia on the 25 August, 1991, 175 cm tall and a weight of 63 kg, Grmay began to refine his potential in cycling during 2010 and 2011 at the World Cycling Centre (CMC) in Aigle, Switzerland, where he spent a two-year period during which Grmay took part in various European competitions for amateurs.

The turning point came in 2012 when he turned professional with MTN Qhubeka team: his best results as a pro include two titles as Ethiopian road champion, two titles as Ethiopian to time trial champion, a stage win and second place in the overall standings during the tour of Taiwan edition of 2013.

The technical staff and management of the Lampre-Merida realised an opportunity in his potential as a climber, Grmays' climbing qualities and abilities which are believed to still have room for improvement, as highlighted by the team manager Brent Copeland: "The quality of climber Tsgabu is has been refined day after day as a daily practice, not only due to his training area of where he lives at an altitude of 2400 meters in the highlands of Ethiopia but also due to his mentality and culture of giving consistent hard work and dedication to bringing out the best in himself as an athlete and person which he is.

I already knew Grmay for his militancy in team MTN Qhubeka and I appreciated his character and his natural talent he has for cycling, for which I believe there is room for growth and improvement: he is one of our many investments for the future, one in which we believe to bring an exponent of African cycling to the worlds pro tour cycling scene.

This opportunity in which Tsgabu finds himself with is something I believe will contribute to help bring out the best in him in order for him to show his true potential"

This is the comment by Grmay: "For me stepping up to a World Tour team is a very great encouragement and it pushes me to work hard for the future in order to reach the biggest dream of my life: to race in the Tour de France.
I am very happy and lucky to be with Team Lampre-Merida. I am the first Ethiopian rider to sign with a World Tour team, so I am very proud about that as well and I want to say thanks so much to Lampre-Merida for this great opportunity".

The team management believe strongly in the development in African cycling and in the possibility of having African cyclists at the top level of professional racing in the future, thus, the reason for the investments as being a reference point for the talented riders of this continent.